Thanks for more interesting photos, pampas14. I made a comment on this “wonder weapon” over on the photos side of this site which might be worth repeating here -
"Didn’t really have any use for bigger wings. A dreadful weapon, born out of desperation. The idea was that, manned by an inexperienced pilot, this thing would be fired at Allied bombers in much the same way as a ground-to-air missile, using externally-mounted rocket boosters designed to drop away when burned out, close to the point of engagement. Following engagement, the aircraft was supposed to drop from the clouds and attain level flight, allowing the pilot to parachute out following a specific and complicated bale-out procedure. This was not intended as a suicide weapon. However, given the high speed and short duration of a sortie, and the complexity of the bale-out procedure, the idea that this could be flown by rookie pilots with reasonable expectation of survival seems a forlorn hope.
In any event, the rookies of the Luftwaffe never got to try it out. In its one test flight, the aircraft appears to have malfunctioned, with one of the external rockets failing to detach and (possibly) the cockpit canopy may have become detached during the upward flight. The pilot - Luftwaffe test pilot Lothar Sieber - lost control as the aircraft became destabilized. It seems to have leveled out in the clouds, then descended at ultra-high speed without leveling out at lower altitude. Sieber evidently tried to exit the plane at least once during this very brief time, but without success. The aircraft, complete with Sieber, lanced into the ground at over 800 kmph.
Not surprisingly, the programme was discontinued at that point. Fortunate, no doubt, for Luftwaffe rookies that might have been asked to pilot this flying coffin. For Sieber, the results were, one might say, mixed. He was promoted, posthumously, to Oberleutnant. He also enjoys the (very probable) distinction to have been the first human to break the sound barrier on his way down. Unfortunately, he was not around to enjoy the accolades … " Best regards, JR.
